The Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report

Art Basel and UBS today launched the first Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. The Art Market 2017 analyzes today's international art market. Written by renowned cultural economist Dr Clare McAndrew, Founder of Arts Economics, the report covers macro-economic trends within the industry, spanning the dealer and auction markets as well as the online sphere.

Art Basel and UBS today launched the first Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. The Art Market 2017 analyzes today's international art market. Written by renowned cultural economist Dr Clare McAndrew, Founder of Arts Economics, the report covers macro-economic trends within the industry, spanning the dealer and auction markets as well as the online sphere.

A continuation of Dr Clare McAndrew's extensive research into this field, the report begins with a discussion of estimated global sales, including the key benchmark statistics on global transaction values, volumes and geographic market shares. It then continues in successive chapters by analyzing the dealer and auction segments, online sales, art sectors (by periods), as well as global wealth trends and economic impact metrics. This new report places a large emphasis on the gallery sector, covering areas such as primary versus secondary sales, profitability, debt, exhibitions and art fairs.

- Globally: The art market achieved total sales of an estimated $56.6 billion in 2016, down 11% from 2015.

- Leading Markets: The top three markets – Unites States, United Kingdom and China – cemented their dominant position in the global art market in 2016, with a combined 81% of estimated sales by value. Despite a substantial decline in sales, the United States was again the largest market by value with an estimated market share of 40%. The United Kingdom was the second largest with 21%, followed by China with 20%.

- Dealer Figures: In 2016, there was a slight increase in sales in the dealer sector – up 3% year-on-year to an estimated $32.5 billion.

- Auction Figures: The value of sales at public auctions declined 26% year-on-year, reaching on aggregate an estimated $22.1 billion.

- Leading Auction Market: Due to the fall in United States auction sales and relatively stable performance in China, the Chinese market led the auction sector with 34% of sales by value.

- Private Auction Sales: All of the top-tier auction houses engaged in private sales, and these rose in 2016 to a weighted average share of 16% of their turnover.

- Art Sectors: The largest sector of the public fine art auction market in 2016 was Post War and Contemporary art, accounting for 52% of the market by value and 37% of transactions.